Turkey extends post-coup state of emergency

07/17/2017

4:25:52 PM

Updated on

07/17/2017

4:28:10 PM

Written by

i24NEWS - AFP

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves to his supporters as he arrives to commemorate the one year anniversary of the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt, in Istanbul, Saturday, July 15, 2017.Presidency Press Service via AP, Pool

Lawmakers agreed to a three-month extension of the emergency law, which had been due to expire on Wednesday

Turkey's parliament voted on Monday to renew a state of emergency in effect since last year's failed coup attempt sparked the biggest crackdown in the country's modern history.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said lawmakers agreed to a three-month extension of the current emergency law, which had been due to expire on Wednesday.

The vote followed the first anniversary of the attempted putsch against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marked in Istanbul and Ankara by mass rallies and bellicose rhetoric aimed at his opponents.

Following the foiled coup -- blamed on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen -- authorities have arrested at least 50,000 people and sacked more than 100,000.

From dismissed university professors to laid-off civil servants, many ordinary Turks have been caught up by political upheaval.

Erdogan also shored up his position by winning a referendum on enhancing his powers earlier this year. The president, who hails from an Islamist party, has raised the concerns of more secular Turks.

Erdogan, addressing hundreds of thousands of supporters in Istanbul at an anniversary rally on Saturday, said he was thinking of bringing back the death penalty for coup plotters -- a measure that would effectively end Ankara's European Union membership hopes.